How City Stress Affects Your Interpersonal Relationships

by Money Team31 Jul 2017 | 2:10 PM

Stress can sometimes be a good thing, especially if it encourages you to do well at work or find more efficient ways of completing your tasks. City stress, however, can hardly be described as such. In fact, several studies report that living in the city may make you more likely to develop anxiety disorders and mood disorders-all of which can affect the way you deal with people on a daily basis.

You might not notice the change right away, especially if you're too caught up in the demands of your stressful city life, but other people will. Don't be too surprised if some of them start pointing out these changes in you:

1. You're more quick-tempered.

If you don't know how to manage your stress levels well, you're more likely to vent your frustrations out on the people around you-from your fellow MRT passengers to your co-workers. You may notice a growing tendency to pick fights with everyone over everything, too. Our tip: Learn how to manage your stress and your temper by practicing mindfulness. According to a study published in the journal Mindfulness, "focusing one's awareness and attention on the present may lessen the stress and anger that you feel.

2. And more difficult to work with.

Everyone knows what it's like to have a bad day when everything that could go wrong does go wrong. Times like that, it's understandable if you'd rather stay in your cube and not talk to anyone or if you lose it in the middle of a meeting. But when those bad days stretch into bad weeks, don't expect your co-workers (and your boss) to be as sympathetic. If the stress is becoming too much to handle, talk to your superior about it. Don't let all the hard work you put into fostering office camaraderie be for naught.

3. Your friends might not want to hang out with you as much.

Complaining about city stress is normal, but if that's the only way you know how to deal with it, you're going to find invitations to go out fewer and farther in between. Nobody wants a downer in the group. Here's what you can do: Instead of seeing the glass half-empty, look on the bright side. There's nothing you can do about traffic or your long working hours, but you can at least choose how to respond to it. Besides, you should consider yourself lucky. At least, you've got your friends to take your mind off things.

4. It'll lose you clients, too.

Carmageddon may be responsible for you not making it to your meeting on time, but it's your lack of coordination and organization, and the fact that you look so stressed out you can barely function that'll be the death of your deal. If you can't even get your life together, how can your clients trust you to manage their business? Avoid looking haggard especially when meeting with important people-this can make or break your career. If you have time, refresh by way of washing your face and ensuring that you look presentable before heading inside the board room.

5.But it's your loved ones who will bear the brunt of everything.

City stress can take its toll on anyone, and it can affect your relationships with the people whom you work with, but the deepest cuts will be on your relationships with those closest to you. "The people we know and love the most are the same people we're most awful to in word and deed-and vice-versa, reports The Huffington Post. Without realizing it, you may already be pushing these people out of your life.

If you haven't been yourself as of late, now's your chance to turn things around. Get your act together, and make the effort to repair broken relationships as you move forward. Don't let city stress destroy everything you've worked so hard for-whether it's your relationship, your career, or your reputation.